No guesses for what location “towers” above the rest (sorry, we couldn’t resist).
With the end of a year comes a lot of end-of-year round-ups – and one in particular is shining a light on social media in the UAE.
Instagram has just released some interesting statistics for 2016, among them a list of the most popular geotags used in the Emirates.
Considering how many tourists visit our shores (a whopping 15.3 million came to Dubai alone this year, according to the World Economic Forum), it should come as no surprise that the country’s most famous landmarks dominated the list.
So what came out on top? It was, drum roll please… the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa.
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Coming in second place was Atlantis The Palm, followed by Dubai’s Dancing Fountain, the Burj Al Arab and the Dubai Mall.
Here’s the top 10 in full:
1. Burj Khalifa
2. Atlantis The Palm, Dubai
3. Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall – Dancing Fountain
4. Burj Al Arab
5. The Dubai Mall, Dubai, UAE
6. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Abu Dhabi
7. Mall of the Emirates
8. Ferrari World Abu Dhabi
9. The Walk @ JBR Beach
10. Madinat Jumeirah
So what else was hot in the region? Well, the figures for the UAE’s most followed person on Instagram are in… can you guess who it is? We’ll give you a clue – she’s a mega-famous beauty blogger?
That’s right, Huda Kattan took the crown with a staggering 15.8 million followers.
She had quite the lead too, as the second most-followed account is actor Hrithik Roshan with 5.5 million fans.
Singer Balqees Fathi took third place, followed by makeup artist and entrepreneur Joelle Mardinian, and Saudi TV star Lojain Omran.
(Our favourite Instagrammer, a certain HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, came in sixth with 4.3 million followers).
Here’s the top 15 Instagram accounts in the UAE for 2016:
1. Huda Kattan – 15.8 million
2. Hrithik Roshan – 5.5 million
3. Balqees Fathi – 5.2 million
4. Joelle Mardinan – 5.1 million
5. Lojain Omran – 4.7 million
6. HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum – 4.3 million
7. Noha Nabil – 3.9 million
8. Abdullaziz Baz – 3.7 million
9. Ola Alfares – 3 million
10. Aseel Omran – 2.9 million
11. Taim Al Falasi – 2.2 million
12. HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum – 2 million
13. Fouz Alfahad – 1.5 million
14. Mona Kattan – 1.5 million
15. Hussain Aljassmi – 1.4 million
To compare, the most followed account of the year in total was singer Selena Gomez, with 103 million fans, followed by Taylor Swift with 93.6 million and Ariana Grande with 89.6 million.
Beyonce rounded out the top four with 88.9 million followers, proving the social media power of female popstars.
